The Other Survivors
by leg64
Summary: They just made it out of the mansion alive and are heading for the prison, but what will happen when they encounter Rick and the rest of the group? Everything that has happened up until Season 3 has happened but storyline is original from here on in. Rated M for language mostly and feel free to critisise
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own The Walking Dead or any of it's characters (they appear later) but I own any original characters in the story. This is my first Walking Dead story so sorry if there are noticable mistakes, I am open to any suggestions for imporvements (only the nice ones) and wish to thank anyone willing to do so. Hope you enjoy the story_

Chapter 1:

Alpha Dog

Drew slammed into the side of the truck as it sharply turned the corner.

"Fuck!" Sandrine shouted from the front, the truck's engine grinded as she missed a gear. Drew regained balance and checked Natasha, the young 11 year old was lucky Drew got to her when he did, 3 more seconds and she would have been walker-fodder.

"You ok?" he shouted over the racket of the engine, she nodded slightly and held onto Drew tighter, poor girl just lost her mother and now she has to run from the walkers… again.

Drew was again thrown against the truck's inner wall as he cushioned Natasha from the fall; on his left we saw brother and sister team William and Karla continue to load their shotguns, they were the fiercest people Drew knew in this new world and they looked like it. William looked like a young Lone Ranger and Karla looked like a battle hardened Wonder Woman.

Another sharp turn as thud as the group hit the opposite wall.

Beside Drew landed Gale, she fell hard on her elbow and cried out.

"You ok back there?!" a loud Russian voice boomed out from the front.

"I ok thanks!" she yelled back to Joseph in her crisp English accent, Joseph was former Russian Army and Gale was a suburban housewife in Georgia. Both were considered old by Drew but realistically Gale was only in her early 40's and although Joseph was pushing for 70 (Perhaps…) both probably had more walker killing potential than Drew. He was a 16 year old weakling who can barely defend himself let alone others.

Suddenly the truck stopped sharply with a screech of brakes.

"Come on out!" Joseph commanded as the came to a stop, Drew grasped Natasha's hand and stepped out of the truck's rear exit alongside Gale. They were on a highway road somewhere; Drew didn't recognise anything around him.

"Hey Sandra where are we?" Drew asked as she brought a map out of the truck, although Sandrine wasn't much of a fighter the 30-Something ex-model was great at reading maps, she was always on the navigation.

"Well I counted the turns I made so we should be here." She said pointing to a long stretch of road; Drew saw her think for a few moments, "There." She said simply and brought her finger down on a square block of land, Drew leant closer to the print to read it: _Correctional Institute._

"A prison? You are taking us to a prison?" Gale asked tentatively, the woman had bit of a problem staying at the mansion because it was so closed off, a prison would be difficult.

"Think about it Gale. Plenty of bedding, food for a hundred men and hard to get in and out of… We can't pass it up." Sandrine explained, Drew saw Gale concede defeat, William however didn't.

"Sandrine think about it. That place was used to hold rapists, murderers and God knows what other horrors! Even if they all fled someone else could be there!" he shouted, Sandrine didn't back down.

"Then we ask them if we can stay, remember when it was just you, me and Karla? We drove up to that mansion and proved ourselves and we were let in." Sandrine retorted, the mansions owner (an ex-millionaire named Jack) had let everyone into his home willingly after the apocalypse, around 33 made it before the walker attack wiped all but them out. The thought of Jack's friendly smile being ripped off by walkers made Drew stomach twist.

"What if these people aren't as welcoming as Jack? Remember not all people in this world are actually nice." He argued back, Drew saw what was happening; he had studied people's behaviours enough to know that with their defacto leader gone (Jack) there was a new challenge for the Alpha position, and now it looked like it was between William and Sandrine.

It had been another hour of shouting between the two for Sandrine to win out and for the group to head towards the prison.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO

They had been on the road for about 3 hours now and the sunlight would only last 1 more, if they were to reach this prison by the end of tonight they needed it now.

Drew scooted to Natasha who was curled up behind the driver's seat.

"Hey Tash you feeling better?" he asked, the little girl had watery eyes but brushed the tears away when Drew sat down.

"A bit, I just miss mommy…" she said quietly, Drew felt his chest tighten at the thought of Joanna, his best friend at the camp, being torn apart. She had seen the walkers coming before Drew did and thrown herself at them to allow her daughter an escape when theyb were trapped.

"I know… I miss her too." Drew said, he put his arms around her and gave her a reassuring squeeze which she returned. Drew looked at Gale to see the women eyes a bit watery as well, Joanna had been a good friend of Gale's as well and they had been the same age so they were quiet similar, Drew knew Gale like to cook breakfast in the morning and Joanna always handled dinner since they had both been the resident cooking superstars.

"Prison ahoy!" Sandrine shouting nearly making Drew leap into the air, he turned and peered over the head rest to see the looming shadow of the prison in the distance, from the looks of things about 15 minutes ahead.

"Christ… look at that place…" William whispered to Karla, both had been hesitant about going to the prison still, both worried about other survivors. Drew didn't know much about the siblings except they both were in the army at some point and that William had definitely been to Iraq, he also remember Karla saying that she quit the army so she could be an investigative journalist but that is all he remembered.

This got Drew thinking about the old world, he remembered all his old friends in LA, one of the first places to fall to the virus was LA, Drew barely made it out with his life let alone Natasha's. He found the poor girl on top of a bus in a traffic jam with a walker pining after her ankles, her mother clinging onto her defenseless, that had been his first walker kill and he wouldn't forget the feeling, the feeling of bile creeping up his throat as the blood coated his face after the baseball bat had connected with the head, the way Drew felt queasy as he carried that girl to safety as her mother limped behind them, his imagination whirring… building a life for this man… was he married? In a relationship? Did he have a kid? Who knows anymore… point was Drew had ended his life…

Natasha shuffled next to him as she fell into a slumber once more and Drew realised he may have taken what was left of that man life and he would never forget it… but he had also saved the life this girl and her mother had.

A fair exchange by any measure.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Heading Out

Rick sat next to Daryl in the control tower looking out over the prison, they had been here a week and there was already issues. It seemed that the loss of Andrea, Jimmy and Patricia was still bearing down on Beth, poor girl was comatose, the break in to the prison had been simple enough but the poor girl was nearly bitten as they cleaned out C-Block, this forced her to defended herself and drive a knife through the walkers eye socket, her first kill.

What had surprised Rick was Carol. The woman had taken a new stride and was volunteering for guard duty or cleaning up the dead, something had changed in that woman since Sophia died… Rick knew she was sick of people having to save her but she needed to be careful of herself.

Hershel was another issue, seems the man's depression is worse than they thought… Every night he would sneaking drinks, waking up in the morning looking like death, Rick could understand, nearly all his friends gone and now his farm… had to be tough on the man, the stress it was putting on Maggie and Glenn's relationship though wasn't fair though. The new couple had been caught arguing a few times about Hershel by Rick.

Rick looked over the grounds to see Lori washing more clothes, his wife was still carrying his dead friend Shane's baby, Shane had gone mad near the end… taking charge of the group and leading them down dark path, Rick had had to kill him for the good of the group Rick was willing to look past it for his family's sake but he knew Lori wasn't, she was plagued with guilt and although she tried to hide it she couldn't… not from her husband or from Carl. The young boy was becoming a problem, he still carried the gun Shane gave him and he was becoming rebellious, 4 times he has ran off in the prison by himself, once even running into a walker that he had to shoot, he was growing up too fast and Rick knew why… Sophia. He knew she and Carl were best friends and ever since that day when he had shot the poor girl Carl had changed. Rick saw the hurt in his son's eyes and didn't know what to do… he just had to wait it out.

"Hey" Daryl's voice brought him out of his lull, "We got company." He said simply and Rick saw what he meant, there was a truck heading down the hill towards them at good speed, he saw two people in the front seats, an elderly soldier type and… Rick could have sworn it was Andrea before he saw the woman's face; Andrea had a different facial structure from this woman.

"Want me to pop a tyre?" Daryl asked and Rick turned to see him holding a rifle up and taking aim.

"Don't be stupid Daryl they could flip." Rick said simply, he set of the alarm system and told Daryl to keep an eye on things whilst he headed to the front gates to see these people. As they ran through the ground he was met by Lori, Carol and Carl.

"What's going on?!"

"Why is the alarm going off?!"

"Is that a truck?!"

Rick ignored them and began to open the gates; Glenn and Maggie appeared and helped him as the rest of the group appeared.

The truck stopped about 10 feet from the gate rear first, the door opened to revealed a hard looking man with crew cut hair and woman with shoulder length dirty blonde hair holding shotguns walk out, Rick, T-Dog, Maggie and Hershel all drew their guns as well.

Behind these two there was a 40-something woman with black shoulder length hair in a white t-shirt and shorts, a weedy looking teenage boy with scruffy brown in a baggy hoodie and jeans and behind him a young ash blonde girl about Carl's age wearing a yellow shirt, green jacket and blue jeans.

"What do you want?" Rick asked as the soldier and the Andrea-look alike walked over guns drawn.

"Shelter." The man with the shotgun answered, behind him the woman in the white shirt nodded.

"How many of you are there?" T-Dog asked not lowering his gun; he had it trained on the guy's head.

"Just us 7, the rest were eaten." This time the woman with the shotgun answered. She looked determined and unfazed by the gun pointed at her.

Rick considered this.

"What are you guys packing?" he asked, this time the look-alike spoke up.

"2 12-Gauge Shotgun, a rifle we can't accurately identify, its freekin' ancient, a MP5 with scope, 2 .44 Desert Eagles, 3 semi-automatic Glock's and a pretty pink Beretta." She answered confidently, woman knows her guns. Rick saw Hershel raise his eyebrows and they each drew their weapons, the shotguns and Desert Eagles belonged to the two people who had done the talking, the middle aged woman drew a Glock as did the teenage boy and the woman who announced the weapons list who also took the old rifle out of the truck briefly, the soldier showed his MP5 and, surprisingly, the pretty pink Beretta belonged to the little girl who took it out of her pocket but stowed it quickly.

"Food, water, medicine, ammo?" Hershel asked and she responded again.

"Not a lot of food, only one bag… We have around 5 litres of water between us… We have around 60-something round for the 12-Gauge, a handful of rounds for the rifle, 15 rounds for the MP5 and endless ammo for the pistols. No medicine though." She answered and Rick considered this, he looked back and counted the people around him, with the 10 in the original group (himself, Lori, Carl, Carol, T-Dog, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel and Beth), the 2 prisoners they found here (Axel, a rough biker who was caught smuggling drugs, and Oliver, a well-built man who was done for tax-fraud) and these 7 there would be 19 in the prison… Rick didn't know how long the supplies would last between 19 people and these people seemed to be bringing more troubles with them than rewards.

"What can you offer us?" Lori asked voicing Rick's concerns, Rick saw the group of three in the middle as an issue, the middle aged woman, teenager and little girl looked like they could barely fight and the look-alike looked a bit weedy as well but she continued to speak.

"Well if you must know William and Karla, those are the one pointing the shotguns at you, are ex-army. They are surgeons with those things…" Rick saw Karla smile as this woman's compliment, "Joseph here can hit walkers with a gun from a mile away…" she gestured to the elderly soldier next to her, "Gale, the one in the middle, can cook a banquet using only Spam and a toasted fork, Drew…" she pointed at the teenager, "…can squeeze through the tightest of spaces and knows how to fence like a pro, and little Natasha has the voice of an angle and the shot of a sniper." She finished with, the little girl looked uncomfortable but strong-willed, Rick got the feeling this woman wasn't lying.

"What about you?" Axel spoke up from the back of the group, stepping forward, "You distract the walkers by playing with your hair?" he asked obnoxiously, this time Karla answered.

"Don't be fooled by her appearance, I've seen Sandrine take down walkers twice your size with one well-placed knife." She answered and the woman, Sandrine, smiled.

"You betcha." She promoted, standing her ground. Rick looked at the group and lowered his gun, everyone followed suit.

"Ok I am gonna talk with my group." He said simply and turned as the group gather around him.

"Are you crazy Rick? That food will do us a month at most… these people may take up more space than we realise…" Axel tried to argue but Carol cut across him.

"That doesn't matter, these are human beings, if it wasn't for this kind of generosity we would never have met Hershel or Maggie or Beth." She argued, the group nodded and took notice of this.

"They have a little girl with them." Lori said simply, "I don't want to be one of the people who turns away a needy child."

"And they look like they could help around the place." Beth pitched in uttering her fist words in days.

"They have more weapons than we do." Maggie agreed, Glenn nodded and so did T-Dog.

"But what about the food?" T-Dog asked, Rick thought for a minute and came to a conclusion.

"We ask them to do a food run." He said and the group looked at him, he saw several of them smile.

"That's a good idea…" Oliver spoke up, "We can have them prove their worth by having them bring in their own share."

"We can't send that little girl back out there…" Lori muttered, Rick knew she was right so he had another plan.

"We keep Drew and Natasha, they look like the weakest, and in return they take two of our people. That way we know what they are doing." He pitched, Oliver immediately piped up.

"I'll go. I wanna see what the world looks like nowadays, it isn't the same on the TV you know. Axel you coming?" he asked the burly biker who shook his head.

"Nah, love this place to much." He answered sarcastically.

"Anyone?" he asked the group at large, Carol raised her hand.

"I'll go Rick." She said and the group stared at her.

"Carol are you sure? These could be dangerous people…" he began but she cut him off.

"Rick I am sure. Besides, I know there are some of you who think I need to start doing something…" she glanced around looking towards Axel then towards the tower where Daryl would undoubtably be watching.

"Carol…" Rick began but she was having none of it.

"No Rick! I am going and that is that!" she said more firmly standing her ground, Rick sighed and turned to the rest of the group.

"We have our volunteers; now let's go tell the newbies."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Prove Your Worth

Gale stood nervously with the group; they had had a confrontation with the people who were already in the prison.

Gale didn't like these people, all with the questions, they knew each of their names and skills but they knew none of theirs, Gale just hoped that these people were kind enough to let them stay.

"Jesus that sheriff-type really pushes my buttons." Karla said as she checked her gun, beside her William snorted.

"I know right? I'm guessing he is the leader of the group." He said polishing the barrel of his.

"Looks like things are getting heated over there." Drew said and Gale looked the locals, an older woman was talking loudly at the Sheriff, he backed down though and spoke to the rest of the group and they started head over.

"Oh, here we go." Gale said quietly and they all stepped forward as well. The Sheriff spoke first.

"I believe we should introduce ourselves first, don't wanna seem too rude. I'm Rick Grimes." She man said tipping his head.

"Lori Grimes and this is our son Carl." The woman beside him said before pointing to the son standing next to her.

"I'm Hershel, these are my daughters Maggie and Beth." The elder man said pointing to the 2 girls beside him, one more tom-boyish and one more typical blonde.

"I'm Glenn." The Asian boy beside Maggie said.

"T-Dog." The African-American beside Lori said, Gale nearly scoffed at the fake name.

"I'm Carol." The older woman who was arguing before-hand said quietly.

"I'm Axel." Said a gruff biker behind them.

"Oliver." Said another voice, this time belonging to a muscular bloke beside Axel.

"And you will meet Daryl soon enough. But for now we have a favour to ask." Rick said as he stepped forward, the looked at the group.

"Some of my friends aren't sure about you guys coming in, there will be around 19 of us and we don't know how long the food will last for so we have a proposition. Your group does a food run in your truck and then you can come in. Don't worry about the young'uns," he added gesturing to Drew and Natasha as Gale opened her mouth to protest, "they can stay here, in return you get two of ours." He explained gesturing towards his group, Oliver and Carol stepped forward.

"Ok?" he asked as Gale processed the information, it seemed a fair deal, after all 7 mouths would cost a lot of food over time, she didn't like the look of this Carol though, couldn't they have given them one of the strong men or at least that Maggie woman?

"Sure." William said a little too quickly, he gestured for Oliver and Carol to join them and Gale turned to say goodbye to Drew and Natasha. She hugged the little girl goodbye and pulled Drew in for a hug.

"_Find out as much as you can._" She whispered in his ear before parting, Drew nodded and headed with Natasha to the prison, Gale climbed in the back next to Carol.

"Gale." She said extending her hand, she shook it.

"Carol." She said simply in a soft voice, she looked a bit distant.

"So… how long you been here?" Gale asked politely, she could feel William and Karla staring at them.

"About a week, we came after the farm we were staying at was attacked. Oliver has been there since the beginning though." She said and Oliver nodded.

"You were an inmate?" Gale asked and he nodded.

"Don't worry though; it was only tax-fraud. Turns out you can't beat the system." He said with a dry chuckle and Gale couldn't help but smile, if there was one thing she liked it was a man that could joke about himself.

"Well don't worry anymore; there isn't a system to beat." Karla joked beside her; this earned a few more smiles.

"So why did you guys come with?" William asked no friendliness in his voice whatsoever. Oliver answered again.

"I came to explore the big wide world, that TV screen in there does not do it justice." He said simply, the Carol spoke up.

"I felt like I had to prove myself…" she looked worried but continued, "Don't tell the group okay?" Gale and the others nodded. "Back at the farm we were staying at I just cleaned and kept the place tidy, I wanted to go and look for my daughter, she was lost in the woods whilst we were at the farm…" she trailed off with a quiver in her voice but again continued, "I felt them glaring at me, they were all going out to try and find her and they wouldn't let me, I didn't do guard duty though and they judged me for it, that group is full of lovely people but… they are _so _judgemental, make one slip up and they don't let you forget it… Anyway we made it to the prison and I realised that I am an expendable person, Lori and Beth can do my job as good as me so I figured that I needed to do something worth keeping me around for." She finished on that down note.

Gale started to worry. She herself was no G.I. Jane, she didn't usually go out on scavenges and as far as the fight goes she has only killed a handful of walkers in her time… She started to worry that this group would only judge her and hate her.

Gale mentally slapped herself, these people weren't heartless hunters and Gale had some skills to offer. She knew her cooking wasn't so bad and that she had at least some fight in her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO

The truck turned another corner and Gale saw where they were going through the front window. The shopping mall was nearly as big as the prison. Gale had learned the hard way that big malls were havens for walkers, she had gone to the mall near where she worked when she realised that she needed supplies and had been confronted with an upwards of 100 walkers trying to sink their teeth into everyone, that is where she had found out about the mansion in the west where the man was taking survivors, she had left with a group of people but only she made it to the intended destination.

Shaking the mental images out of her head she tried to focus on the task at hand reminding herself this was hardly central Georgia, it wouldn't be teeming with the dead here. Hopefully.

"You sure Sandra?" Gale heard Joseph ask, he was right, this place looked like it could be crawling with walkers.

"No but… Carpe Diem eh?" she said cheerfully as they pushed into the parking lot, Gale saw a lone walker in the distance and Sandrine's Latin was hardly comforting enough as the images of the previous mall crept back into her mind slowly.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or any of its properties however I do own all the original characters in this story._

Chapter 4:

L'infiltration Subtile

Drew and Natasha stood close together as they entered the prison with the inhabitants, Natasha thought these people looked a bit worn, a boy her age in a sheriff's hat caught her eye, not only because she though he was a bit cute but because she noticed the bulge in the back of his pants.

He was armed too.

Natasha had found the pink pistol on her way to the mansion whilst with Drew and her Mom, she had picked it up but hidden it, her mother had nearly screamed when Natasha showed her and she took it for herself just in case, when her Mom was bitten in the attack she pressed the gun to Natasha and told her to run. Natasha felt that feeling come up in her chest and throat again thinking about her.

She choked it down again.

The man in uniform, Rick, was showing them around, Natasha had dubbed him Sheriff Rick because of the uniform.

She liked giving people nicknames.

"Well then…" The Sheriff Rick said, "Welcome to C-Block, we have some spare cells on the left side for you guys, we even have enough for everyone to take an individual cell if you want. We are well stocked for food and water and weapons, I see you guys are armed but I ask of you not to use the gun unless you have to. Also be warned that if any of my people get shot there will be hell to pay." The man threatened, Natasha was surprised that Drew laughed.

"You don't have to worry too much. We aren't exactly the straight shooters of the group." He said light-heartedly, Natasha knew that was bullshit, although she had never shot a walker she had seen Drew take down a few in the escape, he wasn't a bad shot.

"Well even so I would rather you don't carry them unless you go outside, in your rooms will be fine." Sheriff Rick explained, suddenly his wife (who Natasha had dubbed Miss Lori because of her strict aura) stepped forward.

"Well I suppose it may be a few hours before your friends return, do you guys want to talk with us or just rest up?" she asked, before Natasha could jump at the idea of sleep Drew answered.

"If you don't mind we wanna just wait for a bit, no offence but I don't feel that comfortable sleeping in a prison with a bunch of people I just met." He said earning him a smile from Miss Lori.

"Well then let's sit down, we sure got something to talk about." She said and they all sat at the tables in the canteen.

Natasha knew the drill, every time a new kid came to the camp with their parents Natasha had to find some stuff out about them for Mr Jack, just to make sure they weren't the wrong crowd. She had a plan.

"Excuse me?" she said to the boy next to her, she remembered his name as Carl and decided to leave it as that, she didn't like naming kids her own age.

"Yes?" he said politely, he didn't smile nor frown.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" she asked smiling; she knew that the kids were easy to get information out of.

"Sure it is up the stairs and to the left, it is a big room and they are in the corner." He said pointing towards a corridor leading off into another section.

She saw her chance.

"Can you show me? I always get lost in big places." She asked slipping a bit of helplessness in her voice, he smiled and nodded.

"Sure thing." He replied and walked over to his mother and said something to her, Miss Lori looked at Natasha and nodded to the boy who came back over.

"She says it is fine but not to be too long." He said as they started walking away, she glanced back to see Drew look at her and nod, a nod she returned.

Natasha waited until they left the room before she started speaking.

"So… how long have you guys been here?" she asked as they walked slowly towards the bathroom, she saw him count on his fingers before answering.

"About a week I think… Place was full of walkers when we came here first but our group killed them all here." He said proudly, Natasha guessed her was probably proud of himself.

"Really? Who did all of the killing?" she asked, she needed to find out who the leaders or tough guys were. Carl looked suspicious at the question but answered nonetheless.

"Um my Dad, Daryl, the guy in the watchtower, T-Dog, Glenn and his girlfriend Maggie and the old guy Hershel did most of the killing. I wanted to as well but Mom made me stay in this cell with her, Carol and Beth." He answered, his face scrunching slightly to remember the exact details. Natasha made a mental note to herself.

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Glenn, Maggie and Hershel were the ones who could fight. By the sounds of thing Lori, Carl, Carol and Beth were the ones that needed protecting.

"What about you?" Carl asked, "Was that woman who hugged you your mom?"

"No." Natasha answered venomously, it had been an innocent enough question but at the mention of the name Mom the feeling had fought its way back up.

She choked it down again.

"Well _sorry_..." Carl replied, she heard the sass in his voice.

"Sorry… It's just that my Mom was eaten yesterday…" she said trailing off; the feeling was back and was cutting off her voice, she felt her eyes grow hot and teary.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Carl said somewhat awkwardly,

"Don't worry, it's happened to pretty much everyone else in my family so I'm kinda used to it." She said shakily, another deep breath.

"How did it happen?" he asked quietly, Natasha was about to say '_mind your own business!_' but found herself telling the story anyway.

"We were staying at this mansion that this guy called Mr Jack owned, me, my Mom and Drew were in the kitchen and we were on cleaning duty for the afternoon, I remember hearing this knocking sound and gunshots and I ran to the door to see what was going on, but there were walkers on the other side, one nearly got me but Mom had pushed it away. We tried to run but someone had locked the door on the other side of the kitchen to keep them out. We hid in the storage cupboard and saw a vent in the wall. Drew pushed me into the ventilation shaft and told me to run to the Safe Zone but the walkers broke through and bit Mom, she told me to run away and she told Drew to look after me, then she…." Natasha breathing was rapid now, a tear broke out but she caught it, "She jumped into the walkers and let them eat her, I screamed at her but Drew pushed me down the shaft and then we ran into Gale and Joseph and we ran away…" her throat closed up as she saw Carl look shocked and saddened.

"I'm so sorry…" he said putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Natasha couldn't swallow the feeling and it was getting worse.

She couldn't cry in front of this kid.

Luckily the bathroom came into view as she felt that last strand of her control fade.

"I'll just be a minute…" she choked out as she ran inside one of the stall and locked the stall, she sat on top of the toilet and wailed into her jacket, she pressed it against her face to stop the cries but knew it would do no good.

"Natasha? You ok?" Carl asked pushing the door open, she forgot to lock it.

Natasha had an answer forming in her mouth but it was replaced by more cries as she hugged the poor child.

"Don't worry… Everything will be fine you are safe now." Carl said quietly and hugged her tightly; Natasha knew it was no good trying to stop now.

The advantage gone she succumbed to the feeling, letting it wash over her, letting it become her, letting it make her realise the horrible truth.

Mom was dead.

She wasn't coming back.


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry about the short chapter but I want to break it down so I can have multiple viewpoints :-) This means that there may be more chapters with less content. Enjoy_

Chapter 5:

Little Shop of Horrors

The truck pulled to a stop and Sandrine turned the ignition off, she jumped out as the tailgate opened and the rest of the group jumped out.

"Okay now we are going into the Costco from the loading dock so we should be fine with walkers." William said, Sandrine may not like him but he knew how to keep everyone safe, "Now you all know the rules, unless the walkers are on top of you only use your silent weapons. If I hear anyone letting of rounds unnecessarily you will have me to answer to understand?" he asked and everyone nodded. Sandrine took over.

"Now we are aiming for food and liquids ONLY! If we see ammo that is an option as well but I don't want anyone loading up perfumes or DVD's, the world has no need for them anymore. Now William… Ideas?" she said and looked at him, she saw a disapproving furrow in his brow.

"Thanks Sandra… Now I want Gale, Carol and Oliver on supplies, Joseph I want you to cover the rear. Myself and Karla will take the front. Sandra I want you on top of the van looking for walkers, if you see them heading inside signal us on the walkie, but if there are more than we can handle feel free to shoot but until then everyone is on silent okay? Now Carol and Oliver we don't have blunts for you so just hang back until you need to shoot." He ordered and handed his Desert Eagle to Oliver; Karla acknowledged this and handed hers to Carol.

"Careful of the kick cause this one's a bitch. Just try and hit them in the head." She said with a touch of sarcasm, Sandrine saw Carol smile and tuck the gun awkwardly into the back of her pants.

"Okay everyone, head out!" William commanded and the headed for the back of the store each wielding some kind of weapon. Sandrine turned and climbed (with difficulty) onto the roof of the van with the rifle, she looked around at the desolate parking lot.

Typical Will, sticking her on goddamn lookout duty… all because she got in his face, she really needed to learn to control her temper but sometimes it won out. She had stopped being a model shortly before the world ended because she used to punch the bitchy ones, an aggravated assault charge with bail and she was out of a job, luckily the world went to hell and employment opportunities were pretty thin on the ground for everyone.

Sandrine sat down and stared out with the binoculars, she remembered the malls back in LA, always full of life and business, you were guaranteed to see someone famous if you knew where to go, coffee shops which sold REAL coffee and all of her friends in walking distance. Of course LA belonged to the dead, they owned ALL of it, she remembered how hard getting out was… all the screaming and blood… Didn't matter at the time because she was running so goddamn fast… Couldn't tell who the walkers were and who the people in that god awful city were. She had survived only because of her father, he was an Olympic Skeet Shooter, he had taught her how to hit moving targets with a gun when she was 10 and kept doing so until his death when she was 23, she had mastered a gun and could hit a pin from a mile away.

She saw movement in her peripheral, a walker with its back to her; it stumbled aimlessly around the parking lot aimless until a noise came from the Costco.

Shattering Glass.

Someone had knocked something over. With that the walker honed in on the target and began to move and then another two followed him, then another three from behind a dumpster. Sandrine was on the walkie in seconds.

"Guys you got a bit of company on the… Holy Shit!" the words escaped her mouth as she looked behind her, a horde of about 20 had seen her and were making for the truck, suddenly the 6 behind the Costco didn't matter.

"Guys hurry the FUCK up; I got a horde making for me right now! COME ON!" she screamed, not even waiting for a reply or permission she picked up the rifle and focused on a walker leading the pack.

The bullet destroyed the walkers head and it exploded sending blood everywhere. The 6 creeping into the Costco turned and looked at her.

All shit was about to break loose.


	6. Chapter 6

_Another painfully short one... sorry :-/ Will try and add more depth for the next chapter_

Chapter 6:

Go Time

William kept the crowbar elevated as his sister stepped in front of him, she had seen a walker and was making for it head on.

"Karla wait…" but he was cut short but a slicing sound, the top of the walker head rolled away as Karla wiped down her stupid sword katana thing (he could never remember its _real _name)

"What?" she asked irritably.

"I was going to say look out but you already know about the two behind you don't you?" William said sarcastically looking for revenge, Karla's face turned to shock horror and she turned around to see two other walkers approaching; however with the flash of a blade she decapitated both in seconds. William laughed to himself as Karla turned around looking furious.

"Will! You know we don't play with the dead!" she said quietly but still seething, she seemed very annoyed.

"Come on I was joking. Now let's be serious." He said and Karla nodded although he could still feel the hate radiating from her, they both scavenged supplies loading them into Gale, Carol and Oliver's backpacks. Thankfully any prior scavengers had left enough preserves to fill the back packs, pretty soon nearly all for jumbo-sized backpacks were full with canned meat, vegetables and various tinned fruit and liquids.

Suddenly a smashing sound filled the air, Joseph stood over a pile of smashed glasses from a display case he knocked over.

"Sorry." He apologised nonchalently.

"You fucking idiot." William said under his breath as everyone quickened their pace. Suddenly the walkie came to life.

"_Guys you got a bit of company on the… HOLY SHIT!_" he heard Sandrine's voice say loudly, he was about to ask what was going on but she was way ahead of him.

"_Guys hurry the FUCK up; I got a horde making for me right now! COME ON!_" he heard he scream.

William's heart skipped a beat.

"Come on let's go!" he yelled at the others before gun shot rang out, sprinting back through the cargo dock her overtook Joseph and Carol and walked out to see a Sandrine firing from the top of the truck with next to 30 walkers making for her, one already climbing up the bonnet, she swivelled and fired into its face before shouting at them.

"Don't just stand there HELP!"

William aimed and fired his shotgun and a walker fell, other turned and walked towards them as he heard a yell of surprise, another horde of what could have been 50 were stumbling out of the loading dock next to them.

He heard Gale scream and shots fire, he had to think fast.

"Everyone get those walkers off Sandrine;s ass and let's go!" he yelled and there was a blaze of noise and everyone discharged their firearms, behind him he saw Oliver fall and a walker climb on top of him.

The walker bit into his neck and pulled, the flesh peeled away and the blood sprayed out over him showering him, William ran forwards and shot the walker, he snatched up the fallen bag before aiming for Oliver's face.

"Sorry brother." He whispered before firing.

Another scream erupted behind them, Karla was stamping on a walkers head as Gale crawled away, Carol was panicking and aiming wildly at the walkers only taking one or two down, Joseph had his MP5 armed and was spraying the crowd around the van with bullets as the larger crowd advanced, William fired his shotgun and another walker fell at his feet.

"WE'RE CLEAR!" Sandrine shouted behind him as she dismounted, the walkers around the truck had fallen and the rest of the group sprinted back, Karla sliced her sword taking down two more foes and William covered their asses. He saw Gale and Carol climb safely inside and then Joseph after them as Sandrine started the engine, he saw Karla run awkwardly into the back of the truck and she followed suit as Sandrine hit the gas.

Dull thuds erupted from the now closed rear door as Sandrine reversed and crushed the other walkers; they sped away as William breathed a sigh of relief before remembering Oliver… Not a big loss but a loss nonetheless and the group at the prison would be pissed.

"Everybody ok?!" Gale shouted, William nodded and he saw Carol respond a shaky nod.

"Ok." Joseph and Sandrine mused together; William looked at Karla and saw her clutching her ankle.

"Karla?" he asked as his heart skipped more beats as he saw the tears in her eyes.

"No." moving her hand away revealing the bite on her now swollen ankle.

Time stopped for a moment.

"No… No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" William said as Karla began to cry. He looked at the wound as Gale let out a gasp of horror.

"I'm so sorry…" Karla wailed, that strong composure collapsing.

"When?" William asked fearfully, tears stinging his own eyes.

"Just now… I shot a walker and it fell over, I helped up Gale and the bastard got me…" she explained quickly as she went back to tears again. William didn't know what to do… They didn't have any first aid kits... She was bleeding so much...There was nothing he could do his sister was going to turn… His baby sister was going to become a walker...


	7. Chapter 7

_Just wanted to say thank you to Emberka-2012 for her kind words of support and comments. Once again I own nothing to do with The Walking Dead except for my own OC's._

Chapter 7:

Battle Scars

"So you were hiding out a mansion?" Rick asked Drew as he sipped the water bottle they had given him, Natasha had been gone with Carl for some time now, hopefully she was getting at least some information because the adults were proving difficult, Drew could barely get a question in let alone find anything out about them.

"Yeah, it wasn't too far from here… Only a couple of hours quick driving if I remember correctly." He answered honestly; frankly he saw no point in lying about too much.

"So how bad was the attack? Are you the only survivors?" Rick asked cautiously, Drew had learned long ago not to tiptoe around the subject of death otherwise nothing would ever get said.

"As far as I know we are the only people here. There were about 30-something of us there so there may be survivors but there were so many bodies and so many walkers. Frankly I think the seven of us are lucky enough." He said gripping his chair slightly, the vision of Joanna's neck being bitten into flashed back into his mind and he felt the bile creep up his throat, he swallowed it down and kept up a brave face.

"I'm sorry." Rick said simply and his wife next to him nodded in acknowledgment. Most of the group had walked off, bored with Drew's antics, all that remained was Rick, Lori, the old guy Hershel, his daughter Beth (who was rather good looking) and the redneck Daryl, Drew still didn't like the way he was looking at him.

"Don't worry; they aren't the only friends I have lost." Drew said bitterly, a little more bitterly then he meant but the feeling was there. Before Rick could open his motor mouth Drew continued.

"Now I need to know a bit about you guys, you know the situation with us and I only think it is fair if you reciprocate." He continued, Rick looked at Lori with a worried look in his eyes but he nodded and turned to Drew and spoke in a firm voice.

"If you must know we have been in this group since the outbreak. We came here a week ago and have cleaned out this block; we plan to move onto B-Block tomorrow, now I need to you to understand that I need to know more about you than you need to know about us. We fought for this prison and won it ourselves, we nearly lost people and I will be damned if I let some newcomers take it from us." He explained in a harsh voice, Drew was surprised by this rudeness; he supposed it was fair but he didn't like this Rick guy.

"I understand, I just wanna say that we are just like you, we just lost our friends and we _need _somewhere to stay. We can't keep moving how we are… I don't want to drag names through the mud but William and Sandrine are gonna tear each other apart, Gale is gonna crack like an egg and I don't want to even think what will happen to Natasha if a walker gets her. I don't want to be forceful but if you choose to turn us away you better keep an eye on the others, they won't take the news as well as you would hope, and neither will I." Drew said, his anger seeping into his voice as he tried to control it. By the looks on the group's faces he had failed.

"Are you threatening us?" Daryl said stepping forward, every fibre of Drew's body wanted to jump back from him in fear but his mind took control and he stood up quickly, the chair bolting underneath him.

"I am not threatening you! I am just warning you that if you think about turning us away so callously then you are gonna get hell from the group!" Drew said a bit too loudly, behind Daryl Drew saw Hershel and his daughter Beth stand up as well, they looked mildly scared of him.

"Now you listen…" Daryl began but Rick cut him off.

"Daryl! Now listen here Drew… We are not gonna throw you out on your ass but you better be willing to go by our rules. You try anything and you are gone." Rick further threatened, Drew was about to retort but a voice behind him stopped him.

"Drew?" the soft voice said. Drew turned to see Natasha and Carl standing near the doorway to the cafeteria, she looked worried and Drew saw her eyes were red. She had been crying.

"Hey honey, you ok?" Drew asked abandoning the conversation; he was rather glad she had cut him off and diffused his tempter since he was close to name-calling.

"Is everything ok?" she asked she sat next to him; Carl sat next to his mother who spoke quietly to him.

"Everything is fine. Let's just go to the cells until the others arrive." Drew said and held Natasha's hand and took her towards the empty cells Rick had showed him earlier, he wasn't in the mood for talking to these people until the others got back.

"You guys don't have to do that." Came a voice from the balcony, Drew turned to see the man called T-Bone or something ridiculous waving them over.

"Why? What is it?" Rick shouted up to him.

"They're back!" he said loudly and ran back to the watch tower as Drew bolted for the exit, he wanted to see the guys again and hide behind them as they sort out all of the politics. He rounded a corner with Natasha and the rest close behind him, Rick and Daryl ran ahead as they broke out of the main doors. It was slowly beginning to darken outside. The truck was thundering through the grounds as Drew felt the smile spread over his face.

The truck ground to a halt as Rick and Daryl opened the gates, luckily there were no walkers around the grounds but something felt wrong as the truck screeched to a stop on the gravel road.

First out was Sandrine, she was carrying the rifle and had blood lightly splattered on her shirt, she barely acknowledged the others as she moved to the back where Gale had jumped out, she made a beeline for Drew and Natasha and Drew saw the tears on her face. She hugged Natasha who reciprocated.

"What is it? What happened?" Drew asked and Gale lifted her head to look at him.

"It's Karla, she was bitten." She said simply and she began to tear up, Drew didn't even hesitate, he moved around to the back of the truck to see Karla and William locked together in an embrace in the back, Drew saw the blood flowing from her ankle.

"Oh Karla…" Drew said, the woman turned to look at him, she looked much older now, the tanned skin had given way to a pale fever, her eyes were red from crying and whatever blood had been left in her face was now flowing out of her ankle.

"It all happened so fast…" Drew turned to see the middle aged woman talking to Rick; she was frantic and stumbling over her words.

"We were in the mall then…. Then I remember the Russian guy knocked over some glass and we ran outside… Oliver… Oliver's gone he was bitten and the brother shot him to stop him coming back then Karla was bitten then, then , then…" she was crying but trying to forms words.

"Shh, shh, shhhh…" Lori said besides Rick and hugged the poor woman. Drew was starting to tear; Karla had saved his life so many times… What was gonna happen?

"What happened to Oliver?" Axel asked Sandrine angrily, the woman replied in similar tone.

"He was bitten, he fell and he was bitten." She said simply, Drew saw the bikers eyes widen.

"What the hell does that mean? Oliver doesn't just fall over and get eaten." He seethed, Sandrine didn't back down.

"Well clearly he does."

"Maybe you wanna tell me what really happened."

"His foot-work was lousy deal with it."

The biker drew his gun quickly before Drew could even think; the revolver was pointed at the woman's shocked face. Drew heard a gun cock behind him and saw Joseph pointing a gun at the man's head.

"Drop your weapon." He said in his usual calm voice, Axel looked enraged but dropped his gun on the ground and stomped back towards the prison, pushing T-Bone in the shoulder on the way.

"T-Dog, keep an eye on him." Rick said and the guy formerly known as T-Bone jogged after the angry biker. Joseph holstered his gun and stepped back with a glare from Rick.

"Ok I am gonna need you guys to tell me exactly what happened." Rick said to the group, he was answered by an angry voice from Gale.

"That can wait! We have an injured woman here and we have your bloody food. Just let us inside and we can tell you what happened." She said angrily stepping up to Rick, this was the first time Drew had seen Gale lose control of her temper. There was a moment of silence as Rick looked at Gale with furious eyes.

"Fine. Daryl, give them a hand getting Karla inside." Rick nodded to the redneck who moved forward towards the truck.

"No. I've got her." William said from the truck and Drew saw him clumsily lift Karla and hold her by himself, he began to carry her out of the truck towards the prison with Gale and Natasha in tow, Drew saw as most of the group began to filter back in with Joseph, Daryl and Glenn taking the food and water through to the prison. Once the left the only people still there was Rick, Sandrine, Drew and Carol, over Rick's shoulder Sandrine made a face at Drew, a face that clearly said '_The grown-ups need to talk_'.

"Um… I am gonna go check on Karla." Drew said, the name panged dread into his heart as he turned to leave.

"I'll go with you." Carol said abruptly and they both began walking towards the prison. Drew was still letting it sink in, Karla was gone and there was no cure for infection so that was the end of her. There was a part of Drew that couldn't believe it… of all the people to die first of their group it was the strongest woman there, if someone like her died so easily how long until he himself was another victim.

"I tried." Carol said quietly next to him, Drew turned to see the teary woman looking at him sadly, "Whilst we were fighting I saw the walker crawl off of Gale and towards Karla, I aimed my gun to kill it but I missed twice and it bit her… I am so sorry." She tried to apologise before she started crying again, Drew began to awkwardly pat her shoulder.

"Don't worry…" Drew began awkwardly but he didn't know how to finish, he didn't know what words to use… she was clearly upset and not a fighter and couldn't have done more, plus she seemed to be shouldering the guilt of the matter.

"It was my fault though! If I just had more sense about me I could've saved her!" she wailed and began to walk towards the main entrance door but Drew yelled after her.

"Shut up! The world isn't your fault. She was bitten because she didn't look down okay!" Drew yelled a bit too loudly; he saw Lori and the kid on the other side of the doors look towards him. Before anyone could say anything Drew pushed past them and towards his cell, he wanted to just forget that day and everything that was wrong with it.

"Drew?" a voice asked on his left, he looked and saw Natasha, Carl and Lori sitting at a table. "Are you ok?" Natasha asked

"Yeah just stressed I suppose…" he said deeply, he heard the depression in his own voice.

"Want to sit down?" she asked and the weight of the day collapsed on him, he needed to comfort this girl… her friend was dying and she needed a helping hand.

"Sure thing…" he said and took a seat next to her, he saw Lori look like he was going to say something but bit it back.

This was going to be a long night.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Denial

William jogged after the man named Hershel as they made for his cell, William knew Karla didn't have long but he just wanted a few more minutes… maybe even hours.

"Here." Hershel said quickly and they darted inside a cell on the right hand side, inside there was medical equipment of all sorts and a young blonde woman fiddling with a picture, she jumped and dropped the picture as they ran in.

"Dad! What is it?" she asked frantically.

"One woman, mid-30's, bitten on the ankle, get her sweater off we need to cool her down, Maggie I need you to get a jug of water and a cloth." He ordered his daughters around, the dark haired woman ran outside with a bowl as William knelt next to his sister. She was very pale and her ankle had swollen to twice its original size.

"Karla? Hey… Karla!" William yelled into her ear, he was greeted by a groan and a cuff around the back of the head.

"What!" she yelled back, the annoyed look on her face disappearing under her sweater as the blonde pulled it over her head.

"Sorry… I thought you had…" William couldn't even say the word 'gone'. He saw Karla give a wry smile.

"Don't worry… When I die I'll tell you." She said giggling slightly, the giggle turned into a cough.

"That's not funny." William said seriously, he felt the anger bubble inside of him.

"It kinda is…" she said weakly.

"It isn't."

"Be honest it is."

"Shut up."

"God you alwa…" Karla retorted but was cut off by William's expression.

"Shut up for God's sake! You are on your deathbed and you are acting like a goddamn child!" William yelled, all his pent up anger flowing out in a stream of words.

"You were always like this," he continued, no control over the forming words anymore. "You were always this immature, even after the world ended you kept acting like a bloody child, God you would have thought the army would have straightened you out but no you had to keep being a goddamn child!" he breathed heavily looking at the hurt look on his sisters face.

"William I…" she began but she was cut off.

"You don't get it! You've been bitten! You get to just go! You get to fuck off to heaven whilst I have to stay here! You are dying right now and you are still acting like a goddamn child!" William yelled, all the pressures of the world and his remaining life just flowing out of his voice-box, he saw the hurt expression on his sisters face, he saw the tears and saw the shocked expressions on Hershel and Beth's face.

His brain was exploding in his head, half of it was screaming at him to sit down, apologise to Karla and shut the fuck up but the other half was taking control of his legs. He turned on his heel and marched outside, he saw several of the people from the group looking at him as he marched across the balcony looking for a room to just stop in, he saw Sandrine walk up to him and he pushed past her, her words lost on his ears, he heard more shouting but he kept walking, he found a door and walked through into the room closing it behind him.

It was the office of what looked like a upper rank guard or something but William couldn't care less, he had just yelled at the one person who he had left at this world on her deathbed and then walked away. He felt something on his face and realised he was crying, today was certainly a jinxed day, no tears for 13 years and it is all broken in one day.

Suddenly the door flew open and a pink faced Sandrine marched in.

"What. The. Fuck?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, even full of adrenaline William recoiled.

"What do you want?!" he yelled back in equal volume.

"I just went to see Karla and she told me that her brother, the _saviour _of her life, has just called her a child and a worthless soldier!" she screamed as she shoved William back onto the desk.

"I didn't call her worthless…" he tried to justify as he got back up.

"AND… then continued to berate her behaviour and walk away! She doesn't have long William, she is going to _die _and she needs her brother! She doesn't need some jumped up Sergeant telling her that she is worthless." The blonde shoved him back down and glared at him with the crazy eyes. Those eyes only sprang forth when she was about to draw her gun and remove an eye or two.

"She is not taking it seriously! She is just joking like she always does…"

"Well if it helps put _your_ half-assed brain at ease she is crying her eyes out and bleeding out fast. Make you happy?" she asked bitterly before marching back towards the door, but before she left she was stopped by the appearance of the dark-haired woman called Maggie.

There was a moment of tentative silence.

"I'm so sorry William but…" she began but William mind caved in before she finished the sentence, hope flying away as the final words left her mouth and entered his head, the world seemed to stop as William felt the walls close in around him.

No.


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry this is a really short chapter but I am SO busy at the moment and I thought I would do a nice representation with Lori since she gets such a bad rap everywhere else. I have decided to upload chapters in 3's so it could take time but you would get a lot in return. Happy reading :-P_

Chapter 9:

A Soap Opera with Zombies

Lori sat at one of the tables next to Carl, the boy Drew and the young girl Natasha. Both looked pretty young and battle-worn, she saw the way Drew stood close to her and watched over her, the older-brother instinct was undeniable although they looked nothing alike.

"So…" Carl began to say and Lori nearly told him to be quiet but reserved herself, she didn't want to embarrass Carl to much in front of people his own age.

"Yes?" the girl asked, a sense of hostility in the air.

"Um… Where did you guys used to live?" he asked, Lori heard the awkwardness of the situation flourish in her sons voice. Then again she couldn't think of anything.

Drew answered first.

"I used to live in Langley, Virginia. Got lucky there because the CIA was literally down the road, we were saved by their agents and whatnot and stuck on mass-transport to Fort Benning since everywhere nearby was toast, long trip and all…. Well you know the rest I told you earlier, Benning was lost, joined a convoy and arrived at the mansion." He said, Natasha spoke up next to him.

"I lived in Georgia… near where Gale lived in fact but we didn't meet until we got to the mansion." She said, Lori felt a tick in her brain.

"Another Georgian huh? Well many of us here are me, Rick and Carl for starters." She said and saw the curiosity in the young girl's eyes.

"What part?"

"King County. You lived near there?" Carl answered a small hint of excitement in his voice.

"Nah… I lived in Little Palms, small town in the North." She said, Lori saw something in girls eyes flicker and saw tears begin to form, before the girl began crying Lori took initiative.

"Well I am sure you guys wanna check on your…" she began but she was cut off by screaming from the office, she caught a few words.

"_Fuck?!...Worthless!... Needs her brother!..." _Lori heard an unfamiliar voice bellow out, it sounded like the new girls… Sandrine her name was. Lori began to listen more closely as she notice the other kids turn their attention towards the office from where the sound was resonating however her attention was caught by Maggie sprinting towards it.

"Maggie what is it?" T-Dog shouted besides her making her jump, he an Axel seemed to have talked things out since he looked genuinely calm. Maggie ignored him and said something into the office.

For a few seconds there was no movement.

Suddenly the brother came barrelling out of it and began sprinting towards the room where his sister was being kept. Next to her she felt Drew move and run towards the room the little girl running after her, after the stresses of today she wondered what the hell was going to happen now.

"God's sake what now?" she asked T-Dog next to her, behind him Axel smiled.

"I tell you what once you guys got here it's been like living in a soap opera with zombies." He said trying to smile the tenseness of the situation off.

Lori tried to find a flaw in the argument but it was true. She no longer loved Rick the same way as she did before and she was carrying Shane's baby… Shane… She wished he was still here, he was her everything in this world even though he was a bit unhinged, hell they all were… Carol lost her daughter and her husband in the space of 2 weeks, Hershel's farm burnt down, Glenn and Maggie had found love, Carl was misbehaving and now a group of newcomers come in and threaten the dynamic of everything.

This was seriously turning into a sick drama.


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry the update took a while but I upload the chapters in three's for flow and the inspiration bug hasn't been with me for this story. I have done more work on the other really so bear with me if sometimes it takes a while._

_Happy Reading_

Chapter 10:

Burst

William was running faster than he thought himself capable of, it wasn't a long distance but in his mind it felt long.

He came to a halt by the cell and looked inside and saw his little sister curled up in the bed, Hershel by her side. The old man looked up when he walked in.

"William I'm so sorry…" he said but William paid him no notice, all he could focus on was the small, crumpled person who lay before him who was once his little sister. He knelt beside her and stroked her chin; she was curled facing Hershel at the side of the bed, her hair a sticky mess, some of it plastered to her sweaty and feverish skin. Her clothes were rank with sweat from the fever and her eyes were open only the slightest bit, like she was hanging on to life until the very last second.

For several moments there was utter silence before he spoke again, his mouth running its own course. He turned to the man, the reason she was gone, the one who told them to go to the mall in the first place.

Rick.

The man stood behind him and from the look on his face he knew what was coming. William's mouth opened and the words came spilling out of it.

"This is all your fault. If you hadn't of sent us to go fucking grocery shopping then she wouldn't have been fucking bit!" he yelled, he advanced on the man before catching himself, he knew a fight wouldn't be the best thing. Rick began to say something but he wasn't done.

"No! You don't get to talk, because of your fucking dictatorship attitude of 'everyone needs to provide' we lost someone and so did you! Fuck we nearly lost Gale and Carol as well! Are you guys that fucking stupid?!"

"Now hang on now…" Rick started to say but William continued.

"Now I am sure everyone else here is just loving you but you want the truth?! Do ya?! The truth is I didn't want to come here in the first place! That was your idea!" he yelled directing his attention to the blonde frame of Sandrine next to Rick, he saw tears in the woman's eyes but he didn't care… this was their fault. By now most of the prison had gathered around the door and were watching him, he didn't like it but they had all done nothing to help her…

William was about to continue when he saw eyes widen, gasps escape mouths and even a terrified squeak from the girl called Beth. He heard a crashing behind him as Hershel fell backwards of his stool.

"Damn it!" he yelled as he crashed backwards, William was about to berate the old fool until he saw what was the issue.

His little sister had started chewing his sleeve. She saw the rest of them and made to get up but was hampered by her ankle and the IV in her arm; she lunged for William and missed by inches. He was still in shock.

"No…. Please no….." he whimpered to himself, Karla managed to find her feet and stood shakily, she lunged again at William but her let out a punch that connected with her face making her stumble back into the wall.

He heard the click of a gun behind him.

"NO!" he yelled and saw Rick pointing the gun at his sister, she was back on her feet as Rick began to protest but William just held out his hand and Rick handed the gun over.

"Make it quick." He said. William scowled and looked back at his sister, she was about to lunge again when he struck her with the butt of the weapon, tears filled his eyes as she regained her balance once more and he aimed the weapon.

"I'm so sorry… For everything… I'm sorry for being a jerk and I'm sorry for being… God forgive me…" he whispered before pulling the trigger, his sisters head exploded and her brains hit the back wall, he gagged and made for the bucket in the corner and threw up, he had killed many walkers before but not his sister.

He stayed knelt for minutes after that, even when Rick took the gun back and offered words of comfort, then Hershel did, then Gale, Drew, Natasha, Lori… They all came to him and offered him warmth, a drink, a shoulder to cry on or just someone to sit with…

The minutes became hours as he moved back to his new cell, same people repeated coming to talk. Lori, Gale and Drew all came by for seconds; Natasha did but didn't stay long. Rick didn't bother and William was glad of it.

A couple of more days and he didn't leave the cell, toilet was equipped so he was set. Carol brought him food and Gale brought him drinks both with more happy words, even Axel came in and apologised for his attitude.

Another few days, Drew and Gale again, but not as much was said from either… People were beginning to care less about him except for those who really did care…

He cried during the nights, stayed still during the days, didn't speak if could help it. As his sister would have said…

"William, you've burst my man."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Soyez Reconnaissants

The dream woke Natasha with a gasp, she had been happy in the dream, it was one of the few she had had since the outbreak that did not feature any walkers. She had been back at Little Palms and the boy she really liked, Skip Rogers, had given her a rose. She didn't remember the fine details but they had ended up in a meadow which had a cliff in it, they had been just playing some game, Skip was looking over the edge and he fell down and that's when Natasha woke up.

Tears filled her eyes when she thought about Skip, he wasn't that special to her but she realised that what happened to him in the real world probably happened to her Dad, grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins and all her friends… they were probably all dead.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and realised that she really needed to go to the toilet, she kicked herself mentally for drinking 2 mugs of the hot chocolate Carol made (the finest she had ever drank) and got out of bed quietly, she was sharing a cell with Gale and she didn't want to wake the poor woman. Natasha knew she wasn't getting enough sleep as it was.

She was about to use the toilet provided but looked around and sighed a sigh of annoyance, there was no toilet paper.

Christ… She would have to use the communal bathroom on the other side of the cafeteria.

She picked up her pink Beretta and opened the cell gate slowly and moved the tarp aside. Yesterday during a clean-out of B-Block T-Dog and Daryl had found enough tarp to cover an entire city, the one problem with prisons is the privacy issue so the tarps became drapes almost, very hand as well.

Natasha gasped slightly when she looked outside the room and it was pitch black. She dipped back inside and withdrew a torch before heading out again. The torch wasn't powerful but enough to show the way, Natasha tried not to make any sounds as she moved; Rick had said one rule was to never go off by yourself in the night.

She heard a choking sound coming from William's cell and was in half a mind to pull back the tarp and check on him; however she knew the sound of crying when she heard it and she knew he isn't the kind of person who appreciates being caught in the act of crying.

She kept walking and descended down the steps on one side, the pitter-patter of her bare feet on metal wasn't that loud so she was confident she would get away with it. The prison was spooky at night; Natasha felt the bubble of fear begin to swell within her but she kept going, she was on the other side now and nearing the toilet, she broke out into a run and as soon as she entered the toilet locked the stall behind her, being careful to ACTUALLY lock it this time.

5 minutes later she had finished and was leaving the restroom. She was wary about the prison and wasn't relishing the walk back; she breathed in and opened the door only to be accosted by a blare of light in the face.

She nearly screamed and raised her pistol but the light switched off and a whisper seethed at her.

"Shh! It's ok it's me, Carl!" the boy whispered, Natasha nearly died of relief and stepped back inside the bathroom keeping the torch on him, he flinched at the light and shined his own at the mirror, the reflected light lit up the room, Natasha followed suit.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, even in the dim torchlight she saw him turn slightly pink.

"I heard you walking past and I thought I might follow you, I couldn't sleep anyway…" he trailed off, Natasha was glad he was here though; she hadn't wanted to walk back by herself.

"Was I loud?" she asked tentatively, she didn't want any adults finding her.

"Not really… I just heard you because I was awake." he shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"Oh okay…"

The awkward silence extended for a minute before Natasha thought of something.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked and she saw the boy's brow crease in curiosity.

"Sure."

"Um… What's the deal with you guys? I mean I know you are a group and whatnot but I get the feeling that you guys kinda… you know… hate each other." She said timidly, she saw the boy's face crinkle in confusion but then contort into an expression of understanding.

"Well some of them don't get along and some of them are a bit stupid." He said bluntly.

"Like who?" Natasha asked.

"Who's a bit stupid?"

"Yeah"

"Well you know T-Dog? Well he dropped the key for a pair of handcuffs which had Daryl's brother in them down a drain, then on our way from the CDC he fell over and cut his arm open and got it infected." He said, Natasha thought that was more clumsiness than anything else but let him continue.

"Also you know my Mom got pregnant after all this started which is a bit stupid…" he continued, Natasha held her tongue again, was this kid for real?

"…And there was this guy called Shane with us before, he was the one who saved me and Mom and took us to meet the original group, but he was killed by my Dad. I don't know exactly what he did but I had to shoot him when he came back…" he trailed off, the look on Natasha's face must have been the distraction, this kid had been through a lot.

"So wait… Your Dad killed this man Shane why?" she was curious, she had told Gale all she knew about the group with Drew days ago but this was new… No-one had mentioned a Shane.

"I think he was going crazy, like he shaved his head and was acting really weird… But what I think was the big thing was he opened the barn which was full of walkers and shot them even though they were Hershel's friends then Sophi…" he caught he words and for some reason seemed reluctant to continue, he shrugged and sat back against the wall, Natasha just remembered something else he said however.

"Wait… You said your Dad killed him, how?" she inquired.

"Um… Stabbed him." He said nonchalantly.

"So why did he come back as a walker?"

"Everyone is infected. Duh!" he explained quickly, Natasha brain exploded in horror.

"We are all infected?!" she yelled, she caught herself before she got louder.

"Yeah… you didn't know?" Carl asked, Natasha wanted to punch him, cry on his shoulder and run away all at the same time, this couldn't be true… She couldn't be infected… She would be a walker… But people die before they become walkers and she hadn't died yet.

"Oh my God… We are all gonna be walkers…" she whimpered, she felt the tears push their way through but she held them back, she didn't want to cry in front of him again.

"That's not true. We have to die first you know." He said and shifted on the spot awkwardly, she knew he wanted to hug her but knew better. She wanted to just be hugged but she didn't want Carl to think she was weak…

The words Natasha wanted to say got caught in her mouth as a sob escaped… Not again… She pushed her way past Carl forgetting the torch and Beretta completely; she ran outside and took a couple of steps before she remembered the darkness, her foot hit something and she fell. She hit her head hard against something solid and for a moment she was dazed, the fear and tears pushing their way to the surface...

Then a restrained voice whispered out.

"Natasha! Natasha!" It was Carl and he was shining a lantern in her face, the tears and sadness forgotten in her accident, they started to return but this time she had control, he knelt beside her as her head stopped buzzing. He looked concerned and handed something to her, her Beretta. She smiled and tucked it into her waistband and stood up accepting the torch from Carl.

The walk back was quiet, neither child dared to make a noise as they snuck back in. Carl's cell was first with his Mom and Dad, they peered in and neither was awake so they said goodnight and he slipped inside. As Natasha made it to her own cell she saw Gale asleep as well and lay quietly on her own bed… As she thought back over the night she smiled at the thought of spending more time with Carl and actually having a friend her own age for once… Then the smile vanished as she remembered the shock news.

They were all infected.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Unwanted Visitors

The coffee was weak. However in this world coffee was coffee and Gale was thankful for it, over the last week or so since they arrived she had noticed the two groups fragmenting and becoming a singular group with small segments. Gale herself spent most of her time with Lori, Carol, Drew and sometimes Carl and Natasha; the two had certainly become good friends but during her and Gale's chats in the evening before they sleep she had found out that Natasha liked Carl a bit, not a lot but she admitted she liked the way he was always kind whenever he saw she was upset.

She also noticed how Sandrine barely talked to them anymore; she knew she had been distancing herself from the group after her argument with William… Gale knew why and she didn't need Sandrine to explain herself, she was feeling guilty for Karla's death; she saw it in her eyes when Carol had said that Sandrine had drawn the walkers by firing and the look hadn't faded. She spent her time in the watch tower with Daryl and Rick mostly.

Gale drained the last few drops from her cup and walked into the canteen kitchens to find Carol there.

"Hi Carol." Gale greeted, Carol smiled an honest smile but didn't say anything. Gale placed the cup on the side and walked out, she planned to find Hershel and offer a hand in the gardens, the old man had managed to coax a few strawberries and tomatoes from the ground and Gale wanted to help out as much as she can, the feeling of inadequacy was becoming a bother.

As she walked through the entrance she passed T-Dog and Axel, both nodded at her and she smiled back at them, one thing she did like about this group was that the gentlemen were indeed gentlemen here. To her left she noticed Lori looking out over the fields surrounding the prison; the woman had a faraway look in her eyes that echoed deep thought. Gale decided not to interrupt but she wanted to talk to Lori later.

Something had been pressing on her mind for days, she realised they had struck lucky that the group had let them stay here but she couldn't help but notice that despite the appearance of the two groups integrating into each other there was still an evident rift visible, mostly in the decision making, Rick consulted his group first on things like clearing walkers or continuing further into B-Block before consulting the newer arrivals. It wasn't a big issue but Gale needed to see to it in case it got worse. She tried to find Hershel but he wasn't in the greenhouses or the cafeteria, Gale gave up and decided to wait until dinner that night.

Although it wasn't planned a seating arrangement had formed, Gale, Carol, Lori, Joseph, Rick and Hershel would usually sit on what was referred to as the 'older' table, typically Rick, Lori and Hershel would occupy one half, Joseph and Gale the other and Carol sitting in the middle being the bridge between them, Glenn and Maggie sometimes joined them but most of the time they sat on the small table right next to the older table. T-Dog, Axel, Daryl and Sandrine usually ended up at the table adjacent to theirs, although Gale knew the woman had been a model once she seemed more at home being amongst the manlier men of the group. Drew, Beth, Natasha and Carl would sit at the 'kids' table on the other side, Drew and Beth had become better friends since arrival, mostly because they were the same age and both were usually assigned by Lori and Gale to watch the kids, when they got here Drew and Natasha had stuck together like glue but each was partnering up almost and finding friends their own age more suitable. William however (on the two occasions he came down) sat by himself.

All the thinking about the group was playing hard on Gale's mind. She decided to take watch duty for a bit, she needed the peace and quiet anyway.

She only just about got her left hand on the ladder before she was forced away by someone coming down, it was Daryl and he did not look happy.

"Wanna watch where ya goin'?" he snarled at Gale, she was about to retort but the redneck didn't linger, he turned and ran to the gates and stood next to Lori looking out over the fields, the expression on his and her face wasn't a cheery one.

Gale turned her head to the left to examine what was the problem and she saw immediately, a black SUV had pulled up on the other side of the field and people where stepping out, she couldn't see who they were but she didn't get a friendly vibe, nobody's car was that clean anymore and one of the men getting out looked well clothed… Too well clothed for this world.

On her right side Rick stepped forward and withdrew binoculars from a bag, he frowned and lowered them, he looked casually to his right and Gale saw Daryl nod.

"Let's go and greet the neighbours." He remarked slyly, behind Rick T-Dog stepped up and nodded at Rick, the sheriff accepted and as a trio they walked to the front gates as they swung open, they were about to leave when a familiar voice rang out.

"Wait!" William shouted, he ran forwards towards the trio and was stared down by Daryl. Gale was glad William was out of his cell and speaking again, she had gone by multiple times and comforted him, told him Karla was a good girl and that they needed him. Nothing had seemed to work until now.

"What do you want?" he asked in a sharp tone, William held his stance and maintained a stony expression despite the intimidating voice.

"If they are government you are gonna want me here. I am a soldier in the army and I was originally helping evacuations, if he is looking for people to take to a shelter having me with you might just help your chances." He explained calmly, Gale saw Rick's brow furrow but the leader nodded solemnly.

"Alright but I want _no _outbursts from you. You do that whilst we are up there and you cause a fight, we ain't gonna back you up." He warned, the worn soldier frowned but nodded in acceptance as he walked after them through the gate, the foursome continued as members of the camp looked on, beside Gale she heard Lori make a noise somewhere between a grumble and a moan of concern.

"What is it?" Gale asked, the woman looked at Lori and the woman's expression hardened.

"It's Rick… He always gotta play the leader… Always gotta go to the problem when the problem could have gone away by itself… Sometimes I wonder whether he really cares about us. His family." She vented, everyone was too focused on the visitors to hear what she was saying, the only people out at the moment where Lori, Gale, Axel and Beth who had walked over with Carl and Natasha, Axel and Beth were transfixed with the visitors whereas Carl and Natasha were whispering to each other.

"I'm sure he does Lori, I don't know him as well as you I know but he cares about you guys a lot." She reasoned, Lori looked at her and her features softened.

"I know I know… He has been a good leader but sometimes… Sometimes I wish he would just stop. I think he is getting carried away and all… We haven't even talked about my pregnancy properly since the farm." She mentioned casually, Gale pursed her lips and remained silent, the one thing she didn't like about Lori was her pregnancy, Carol had told her how in the times since Rick's apparent death and the family's reunion Lori and her friend Shane had become an item of sorts, however when Rick returned that finished and Lori became faithful wife, however the affair had come at the price of a baby. Gale shouldn't judge the woman… she could understand the loneliness after a husband's death in this world and she was indeed looking out for her child… But to be pregnant with another man's baby… That was bad karma for sure…

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't burden you with my marital problems…" Lori apologised and Gale saw a tear being brushed away.

"Hey, don't worry about it darling, you have to say these things out loud otherwise they just swell inside of you and cause to put questionable substances in your husband's dinner." Gale said, Lori looked at her with a look of surprise and intrigue. Gale knew she had to explain.

"Several years ago I found out my husband was having an affair with the woman who cleaned his office at night. Now I needed him to stay with me because I had just moved into the house and we just merged bank accounts and all that… Plus I couldn't stand to tell my mother that she was right. So as… well I guess you could call it revenge… every night when he came home for dinner I would serve him his food and smile. The reason why? Because the spatula I used to serve his food was the same one I used to pick up the dog shit." With those final words Lori burst out laughing and doubled over, Gale could always rely on the 'husband-dinner-shit' story to brighten up the mood. She turned to see Axel, Beth, Carl and Natasha all looking at her with wonderment.

"What's so funny?" Axel asked.

"I'll tell you at dinner darling, it should really give you an appetite." She remarked, everyone looked confused but they looked back to the visitors when raised voices began to surface, Gale and Lori followed suit as the joke immediately stopped being funny, she could see the men standing off at each other before Rick turned and abruptly walked away, the others following in his wake.

"What the hell happened?" Beth asked quietly, the first words Gale had heard the young girl say since her arrival.


	13. Chapter 13

_IMPORTANT: Due to my increasing workload, general lack of inspiration and determination not to make any big detours from the series I am slowing down the rate of production on this story. I will update but not very often since I will wait for more details about the prison to be released in Season 3, this means a general hiatus on the story but it will be back after this chapter soon. In the meantime feel free to read my other stories in The Walking Dead universe. _

_Just another thank you to Emberka-2012 for her thoughtful comments __ Once again I do not own the Walking Dead or any of its products but I do own my OC's._

_Enjoy _

Chapter 13:

The Governor

William walked towards the visitors shakily, he hadn't been eating right these last few days and sleep was eluding him. He wasn't in the best shape and this was the first time he had been outdoors in a while, he shouldn't involve himself in such trivial matter but he knew if he didn't start doing things soon he would look like a right woman.

The approached the SUV and he got his first good look at these people, the man closest was wearing a suit, not an expensive one but really quiet well dressed, compared to his companions (a thin but muscular Asian man in a tank top and a tall and well-built man in what looked like National Guard Service uniform) he was better dressed and clearly the leader. He stepped forward and spoke clearly.

"Hello, I am the Governor. These are my companions Lin and Johnson… You are?" this man spoke as if they were all guests at a cocktail reception. He seemed to at ease with the situation.

"I am Rick and they are Daryl, T-Dog and William." Rick said as he motioned to each man in turn, "Why are you here?" he asked straight-forwardly, the Governor smiled and spoke with that same cocky voice.

"Straight-forward aren't we? I'll be blunt; we recently came across some survivors who say they came from this joint, they said that this place was stocked will food, water and other materials that could be of value, we just came to investigate." He explained, he sounded like some politician, William had encountered men like him in his career, using their words to get what they want not their fists.

"Sorry to disappoint you gentlemen but this place is spoken for… We got people here who need this place as much as you do." Rick replied to the statement, he spoke in that firm voice of his which William had heard many times, although William couldn't stand the sight of the man he had to at least respect Rick for the head on his shoulders.

The Governor sighed.

"See that's a problem… I come from somewhere where there are many people depending on me. We need some of the things you have in there, you guy are always welcome to join us you know." He offered back, William was surprised by this and judging by the looks on Daryl and T-Dog faces so where they, Rick didn't give an inch though.

"That's rather tempting… But we got a fair few people here you know and we know nothing about your camp. How do we know you won't shoot us dead and take the supplies for yourself?" he answered back, before the Governor could answer William cut in.

"So what are you guys? Military? From the looks of Jackson over there National Guard if I'm not mistaken." William pointed to the man behind the Governor; he merely stared back at him.

"It's Johnson, and yes several of the people managing the camp are National Guard. Problem?" the Governor answered, William raised his hands and shook his head, he was rather intrigued by this offer to go to this place, it sounded better already than the dank prison.

"I don't know if we can commit to that. We fought for this prison, blood has been spilt here and it's ours." Rick said firmly, the Governor leered but merely took a step back.

"Your choice, but I hope you realise we will be back for more 'negotiations'." He remarked, this panged in William's gut, what did he mean by negotiations?

"Hey! What do y'all mean 'negotiations'?!" Daryl asked vocalising William's worries.

"Nothing, just in case you come around to this opportunity we will be back. Let's go." He answered before motioning to his companions who climbed into the SUV beside him. The car swung around and sped off as the foursome stood there. It was only when the noise of the engine faded did T-Dog speak up.

"What the hell was that all 'bout?" he asked out loud, Rick turned to the others and William knew what it was about, he had encountered people like that on his journeys, people willing to go ever so far to protect their own.

"We gotta be careful Rick; he said he'd be back who knows what kind of people he will be bringing with him?" William warned, Rick ran a hand through his hair, the pressures of responsibilities showing once more on his face.

"We gotta go back to camp and fortify this place, if this Governor comes knocking then we will fight to the death." He said as he pushed past them, as Daryl and T-Dog followed him he looked back to wear the SUV travelled… Somehow this Governor's promises of a better place seemed a bit hollow to him, he turned and followed after the trio. They had work to do.


End file.
